Stories to Tell
by moonswirl
Summary: Prelude #11 to ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, coming in July. (See author's note inside) An AU story set across the Arrowverse. In this installment: Zari Tomaz is rescued by a mystery woman after being pursued by a breacher. (A/N: There's no character tag for Zari, but she's the POV character so here we are...)


_**A/N:** I was meant to start writing and posting these back in January, however life happened, and progress didn't happen, so now here I am, a little over two months late but finally kicking things off! This coming July, as I've done for the past two summers, I'll be leading a 100-day countdown story set across the Arrowverse (featuring Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow). I decided to do things a little differently this year. For one thing, the entire 100 days will be a single story spread over 100 days, one chapter to every day. And for another, the more planning I did, I saw the possibility and the need to lay in some ground work in the form of preludes._

 _Twenty-four prelude one-shot stories, six each to the four series (again, it was meant so that each month from January to June would have one of each show, but now… yeah ;)), posted every 5 (or 6) days._

 _The story this will all be leading to, **Once More Unto the Breach** , is an alternate universe story (not another Earth, ha :D), which will soon become evident enough. It's very possible you do not watch all four of the shows, but I highly encourage you to seek out the other preludes, as they will help to fill in this world I'm very excited to share with you guys!_

 _Alright, enough chit chat, let's go! If you have any questions, send them my way and I'll be happy to answer them!_

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 **STORIES TO TELL  
** _Prelude to_ _ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH  
_ (11 of 24)

 **Location:**  
 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 _ **(ARGUS designation)**_

Zari had known there may be consequences for the choice she made that day, and if she had believed the risk too great she wouldn't have taken it, honestly, she wouldn't have. But some things needed to be set in motion, and she had known herself to be the most likely candidate to make the approach, and so she'd made it, taking what precautions she could.

And she'd gotten through her meeting with Nora Allen just fine in the end. She had said all she'd meant to say, and the woman had been as receptive as she would have hoped her to be. What came of it now was, presently, out of her hands. Even so, as she left the building after the meeting, she was on edge all over again. She had spent three hours in that office, talking with the woman, much longer than she had anticipated. It was just after five now, still light out, but she didn't see herself calming until such a time as she would be far from there, back in her home, in her office, knowing that she hadn't been followed. She was hardly defenseless, but how could she help being the way she was, with where she had spent the better part of her life?

She had made it to her office again without incident, and for a moment she had breathed out in so much relief it might have seemed she'd been carrying the weight of the world. She'd sat there, head bowed, eyes closed, breathing, for a minute or so before looking back up and opening her eyes. As soon as she did, she saw the note left she'd stuck to her computer screen before leaving earlier, knowing deep down she would forget about this other appointment by the time she got through with her visit to NorCo. Squeezing her eyes shut again for a moment, she'd sighed and gotten up to leave again.

She wasn't late, but she had to go home to shower and change before she went out again, and if that took too long then yes, she would be late. And she had already rescheduled this date twice already. Third time wouldn't be a charm at all.

By the time she was finally walking up the street toward the restaurant, her step as brisk as though she'd break into a jog at any second, she might have been a whole other person. Unfortunately, this other person did not share her innate apprehension as she moved about the city. If she did, she might have realized she was being followed long before someone grabbed her from behind, one hand silencing her, one arm immobilizing her. She struggled to free herself as she was pulled out of sight and into a nearby alley. And when her moment presented itself, she changed her methods, catching her would-be captor by surprise enough that he let her go, and then she was off like a rabbit, running, running, fumbling to get a hold of something in her pocket. She had to warn them…

She didn't need to look over her shoulder to know he was chasing after her. She couldn't slow down, not for a second, because he was fast, too, and he would catch her if he got the chance. She hadn't really gotten a look at his face, but she didn't have to see him to know where he'd come from… Same place she had, once upon a time. If he'd managed to make it here, to track her down, then she couldn't see him not knowing about that. Why he was after her now, well, she could think of a few reasons.

She must have gotten turned around in her haste, because suddenly, in a heart sinking realization, she saw she was coming to a dead end. Her head snapped back to confirm that her pursuer was not only nearing but also knew he had her cornered. The grin on him could have chilled the entire street. She had genuinely thought that… which made what happened next feel like someone had heard her.

Before the guy had even managed to say a word, a rush of frigid air enveloped him and left him encased in ice from head to toe, like some blocky, life size action figure, crystal blue. She'd already been out of breath, but this… it took what little she had left out of her. What had just…

When she woke again, she wasn't in the alley anymore. She was… Where was she? Opening her eyes, taking in her surroundings, she couldn't have said. She was lying on a couch, in a living room, somewhere… She sat up, feeling her anxiety rising all over again. Had she imagined that last part, had she been caught, was she… No, no, had she been brought back to…

"I'd take a deep breath or two if I were you, before you go and pass out again," a woman's voice startled her, and she looked around to find the one who'd spoken, sitting on a chair nearby.

"W-Who… Wh… Where am I, who… who are you?" Her whole body felt like it wanted to run.

"Relax, you're safe," the woman promised her, rising to fill a glass of water and bring it back to her. "The where is my apartment, and the who… My name is Amaya, and I saved you." She was smiling as she said this, but something about it didn't make Zari feel any better. She'd been saved, sure, but was she safe… That was left to be seen. Still, she took the water, slowly set herself to drinking it. Her so-called savior had one thing right, if nothing else. She did need to relax. Brain firing every which way, she'd never be able to think straight, and she really needed to think straight right now. "So who are _you_?" Amaya asked, sitting again, looking back at her.

"When you say you saved me," she asked, ignoring the question and instead trying to figure out a way to ask her own, without giving away anything too fast. She didn't know what had really happened out there, and maybe this Amaya didn't either. Though she _had_ brought her to her home instead of a hospital… "You… you found me after I passed out, or…"

"I'd give you a demonstration, but that might get a bit complicated, and you've been through a lot tonight." She didn't say it, but she didn't have to.

"That was you? The ice?" For the first time, the other woman looked hesitant. She looked down to her hands, closed her fingers in with a sigh before looking back up again.

"Long story," was her response.

"Well I just had a bit of a rough night, I could use one of those," Zari declared, sitting back and looking at the other woman sitting across the room, feeling for the first time since the breacher had grabbed her that she actually was safe. She didn't know what had changed her mind about Amaya, maybe now that she had started to calm down she was actually seeing her as a person. She had always prided herself in being an excellent judge of character. Eventually, Amaya began to speak.

It was true, she _had_ saved her that night, but it wasn't the whole truth. And for Zari to understand why, she had told her about what had happened to her, some years back.

She had been awakened one night by a noise. Sitting up in her bed, for a few seconds, finding everything was still and silent, she had been ready to accept the chance she might have imagined it, heard it in a dream and woken up for nothing. But then as she was moving to lie down again, there had been another noise, like something breaking, from somewhere maybe a few floors lower down the apartment building, who could say where for sure. And then there was another, except she could have sworn it had come from above. And then another… and another, and another… Below, above, below… _Crash…_ down the hall. And then, a scream…

She wouldn't know exactly what had been happening, all over the building, not until it was all over. And before it was over, they would have found her.

The ones that broke into her apartment, there were two of them, a boy and a girl. She could never forget their faces, and so she knew that was what they were. They couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen years old. But there was something about them that didn't feel young at all, no, it felt… brutal. And it was that, as they came after her.

"I can still hear her," she told Zari. "The boy never spoke, but the girl, she said… She said it was their home now, and I was a trespasser and they would deal with all the trespassers, before the night was done. They were all over the building, all over… And the things they could do… the things they did…" The memories of that night were so strong in her, Zari felt shivers just hearing about it. "A lot of people died, before it was all over. But I survived, barely. It didn't feel a whole lot like living, not for a while after, remembering what had happened to the people in that building. I'd have these nightmares… kept me from sleeping for so long I thought… Maybe I would have been better off not making it through after all. And that's when it started, when she came."

"Who did?" Zari asked, her voice low. She knew exactly how it felt, to be that scared.

"I did… She did… We…" Amaya shook her head. Even now, it was never easy for her to mark the separation within herself. "Something was awakened in me, it seemed sometimes, though other times I was sure it had been them, what they did that night… I don't know, one way or the other, and much as I've tried to understand it, I still don't know. All I know is, after weeks of trying to recover, that's when it started to happen, to manifest. There's this other person, only she lives in me. And when she gains control, I lose it. And when I lose it, I know nothing. It starts coming to me after a while, just not right away."

"I don't understand…" Zari blinked.

"Well, let's say we both woke up here after what happened tonight. I'd been out for a walk, and then… I was here, and there was a stranger asleep on my couch. But then I remembered. I remembered seeing you running, seeing that man chasing after you. And then…" she mimed with her hands what translated as 'nothing, poof, gone' around her head. "Then we were here, and I started to remember, how she took control, and she turned that guy into one man-sized ice sculpture. And when she saw you faint, she decided to bring you here, let me deal with the aftermath."

"I'm sorry, maybe I hit my head on the way down, because you've lost me." Amaya shut her eyes. "Who's… she…"

When she'd opened those eyes again, they were like ice chips, shock white and practically glowing. In growing awe, Zari watched as the transformation increased, ran its course, soft dark curls running white from roots to ends, skin taking on a paleness that seemed to call on the image of one overrun with cold. And when she spoke… her voice almost echoed.

"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty," she declared, a look over her face that felt so separate from that of the woman she'd just been speaking to. Like she was a whole other person. "For the record, I don't enjoy being paraded out for show and tell." And after a moment more, she started returning to the way she'd been before. By the time she was fully back, she looked back to Zari with a look of barely veiled relief. "I have to admit, I was half sure you'd either be gone or looking for a weapon by now. But you're not, so…"

"Yeah, well, you should see some of the people I hang out with," Zari shrugged, and Amaya smiled. "Did they ever catch the people who attacked your building?"

"That's maybe an… even longer story."

"You spoil me," Zari once again shrugged, inciting her to go on.

"The people who broke into my building that night, they weren't from here. See, there's our Earth, and somewhere, there's another one, another Earth, and…"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Zari cut her off, and sat up, putting her empty water glass down. "I'm already familiar with that one, I… I sort of came from there myself," she admitted.

"You're a breacher?" Amaya asked, her eyes flashing to ice again, only for a moment but long enough to put Zari back on edge. "Sorry…" Amaya spoke, and her tone was earnest.

"It's okay. I'd be a bit abrasive about it, too, if I was in your place, which… well, maybe I am, a little bit. So here's the part where I tell you my side of it, yeah? Yeah. So, first things first, seeing as I'm remembering I never actually said it, my name is Zari, and I am from Breach Earth. ARGUS calls my part of it War Quarter." There was recognition in Amaya's face at the mention, so she guessed she'd heard of ARGUS before.

Few were those who grew up in War Quarter who had it easy growing up, unless they were of those who were fortunate enough – emphasis on fortune – to be able to afford some kind of protection from it all. Zari had had no such luck. Her life, as far as she could remember it, had been as far from fortunate as one could get. All she'd gotten from it was anxiety, and a tendency for being hyperaware… oh, and the running… Where she'd grown up, being able to run fast could mean the difference between life and death, which was really the biggest joke of all. Why run, why prolong all this? Why not stop and let it end? If anyone had the answer to that question, they hadn't shared it. All they knew was that they kept going, if not what for.

Well, Zari had kept going, and it had been the first fortunate thing about her life, because it had allowed for her to come into contact with the person who had not only told her about this other Earth but helped her escape to it, to establish her and help her start a life here.

"I've been here almost seven years, and yeah, I can pass myself for someone who's been here all their life, who's had it… maybe not easy, but at least not how it was back where I came from. I guess I was always so intrigued about things here, so that's how I became a reporter."

There was plenty to her story in the middle, though she didn't see it as necessary to share, as she imagined Amaya had left out plenty about her own story, this situation with her… frosty alter ego, and for solid, personal reasons. Zari's reasons for not speaking of how the people who had taken her away from Breach Earth and settled her here resided aboard a space ship that traveled through those breaches were her own, as were the people who had taken her on as part of their team once she'd ended up here, people who would have thought it to be asking for trouble for her to seek out Nora Allen that day, and no doubt it was. She was almost certain that her pursuer had been tailing her since she'd left NorCo. It might have been a risk, and they would say it was, but to some extent she knew they'd understand in the end. They called her 'boss' in a slightly teasing manner, but she knew they relied on her for real.

"Did you leave that breacher out there in the alley?" she suddenly thought to ask.

"I may have put in an anonymous tip to ARGUS," Amaya admitted. "They'll have picked him up by now."

"Good, good…" Zari looked down to herself. "So much for that date…" she sighed. If Amaya heard her, she didn't call attention to it.

"The breacher who chased you, did he say anything? Why was he after you?" she asked instead, and Zari hesitated. It was something to not bring something up, but to actually lie when asked, that was something else. After a moment of consideration, she replied.

"I think he may have followed me earlier, after I came out of NorCo…"

"Nora Allen's place?" Amaya asked, and Zari nodded, catching a short smirk on the other's face.

"What?" Zari had to ask.

"Oh, nothing, I just… I'm friends with her son," Amaya shrugged.

THE END

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 _Check out the next prelude, coming April 30th!_


End file.
